Showing results by author "Gregory Ashe" in All Categories

Shaw and North are best friends, private detectives, and in danger of losing their agency. A single bad case, followed by crippling lawsuits, has put them on the brink of closing shop. Until, that is, a client walks into their Benton Park office. Matty Fennmore is young, blond, and beautiful, and he’s in danger. When he asks for Shaw and North’s help foiling a blackmail scheme, the detectives are quick to accept. As they dig into the identity of Matty’s blackmailer, they are caught in a web that touches politicians, the local LGBT community, and the city’s police.

Emery Hazard has pretty much everything under control. He and his fiancé, John-Henry Somerset, are more in love than ever, despite the stress of wedding preparations hanging over them. His business as a private investigator is growing. He’s even enjoying time with his growing circle of friends. When Mitchell Martin shows up in his office, though, everything changes. The year before, Mitchell was abducted and tortured by a sadistic killer known only as the Keeper of Bees. Now Mitchell is convinced that the Keeper has come back, and he wants to hire Hazard to protect him.

Everything in Emery Hazard’s life is finally going well: His boyfriend, Nico, is crazy about him; he has a loyal partner at work; and he has successfully closed a series of difficult murders. By all accounts, he should be happy. What he can’t figure out, then, is why he’s so damn miserable. After a fight with Nico, Hazard needs work to take his mind off his relationship. And someone in town is happy to oblige by murdering the sheriff. The job won’t be easy; the sheriff had enemies, lots of them, and narrowing down the list of suspects will be difficult. Difficult, but routine.

It’s nearly Christmas, and Dashiell Dawson Dane already has enough on his plate: finding a present for his parents, coming up with excuses not to hang the Christmas lights, and finishing this stupid story he’s been writing (okay, maybe he needs to start writing it). On top of all that, Bobby has been acting…well, strange. The last thing Dash needs, in other words, is to play host when Marshall Crowe—celebrity author and, worse, a friend of Dash’s parents—comes to town.

After several months (and a few murders), Dash is finally starting to feel at home in Hastings Rock. He’s enjoying the quiet after the end of tourist season, he’s comfortable at Hemlock House (the jury is still out on whether it’s haunted), and most importantly, he has friends.

When Theo and Auggie return home—safe and sound and miraculously alive after being dragged into a murder investigation—all Theo wants is for life to get back to normal. No more murders. No more investigations. Nothing, in other words, that might put Auggie in danger. But when a girl from school goes missing, Theo finds himself reluctantly drawn into looking for her. Shaniyah was his former student, for one reason. And, for another, no one else seems interested in where she’s gone. Worse, her disappearance seems to be linked to a break-in at Theo and Auggie’s house.

When a former colleague, Walter Hoffmeister, comes to Hazard and hires him to look into a series of anonymous death threats, Hazard eagerly jumps on the distraction. Hoffmeister might be a jerk, but he’s a paying jerk, and Hazard isn’t convinced the threats are serious. Until, that is, Hoffmeister is almost gunned down on Hazard’s doorstep. As Hazard investigates more deeply, he learns that more than one person in Wahredua has a reason to wish Hoffmeister dead.

Every victory comes at a cost. The trail has gone cold. For months now, Emery Hazard and John-Henry Somerset have been trying to find something—anything—that might help them uncover the truth about the criminal organization operating out of the Cottonmouth Club. But every lead has turned out to be a dead end, and every step forward has cost them two steps back. Until, one night, John-Henry is arrested for a terrible crime.

It's almost Christmas, and Emery Hazard finds himself face to face with his own personal nightmare: going on a double date with his partner - and boyhood crush - John-Henry Somerset. Hazard brings his boyfriend; Somers brings his estranged wife. When a strange call interrupts dinner, however, Hazard and his partner become witnesses to a shooting. The victims: Somers' father and the daughter of a high school friend. The crime is inexplicable. There is no apparent motive, no connection between the victims, and no explanation for how the shooter reached his targets.

After spending his whole life taking care of his family, Fernando Lopez is ready for simple. His younger brothers have grown up and moved out of the house. His mom is stable—or as close to stable as she’s ever going to get. He’s even got a shot at his dream job if he can just play his cards right. Everything is going great until one morning, Fer finds a baby in his kitchen. And not just any baby—his brother Chuy’s infant daughter. With Chuy nowhere to be found, Fer finds himself back in the role of caregiver.

Elien Martel is a survivor, but surviving, he’s beginning to discover, isn’t the same thing as living. In the house he shares with his much older boyfriend, Elien spends his days trying to stay as far away from living as possible. Living, he has learned, means that sooner or later you’ll get hurt. When a member of Elien’s support group dies under strange circumstances, though, Elien finds himself in a web of bizarre coincidences. The responding officer turns out to be another member of Elien’s support group - who has made no effort to hide his dislike of Elien.

The Borealis boys are settling into their new normal, or at least into their new digs. But when North’s soon-to-be (please-let-it-be-soon) ex-husband, Tucker, is arrested and charged with murder, everything goes sideways. Hired by Tucker’s parents, North and Shaw begin looking for proof that Tucker is innocent, in spite of the evidence against him. When they find seemingly incriminating photos hidden in Tucker’s BMW, North is convinced that someone is trying to frame Tucker - and might get away with it.

When Auggie Lopez returns to Wroxall College, he’s determined that his second year will be different from the chaos he faced as a freshman. He’s living in the Sigma Sigma house, he’s got a good group of friends, and his social media presence is growing. Meeting a hot older guy on move-in day is just the cherry on top. All he has to do now is avoid getting dragged into another murder. That last part, though, turns out to be easier said than done, especially when Auggie’s ex-roommate, Orlando, asks for help.

Life is different for Jack Moreno. Good. Definitely good. Well, better, anyway. He’s back in school (although classes are harder than he expected). And his dad is healthy (which means he’s worrying again about things like Jack’s curfew and, oh yeah, grades).

A new home, a fresh start, a chance to do things right this time - and Shaw and North are determined to make it work. But the night of their housewarming party, things don’t go as planned. A reporter arrives, wanting to talk to North about his ex-husband, his father, and a criminal syndicate. No sooner have they gotten rid of her than another unwanted guest appears: a street boy named Nik, whom Shaw met months before, begging them to help him find his missing friend, Malorie. Meanwhile, North’s Uncle Ronnie is set on revenge, and his target this time is North’s father.

When a man hires Emery Hazard to track down a teenager who, he claims, robbed him, Hazard isn’t convinced. The story has holes in it, and the client seems eager—too eager—to keep the authorities from getting involved. But Hazard is willing to play along; he suspects something much darker is going on, and he wants to know what it is. Then his husband, John-Henry Somerset, connects the boy in question to an ongoing suspicious death investigation, and both men realize they’ve stumbled upon something much more complicated.

Emery Hazard is ready for Valentine’s Day. He’s made reservations months in advance, he’s ordered flowers, and he’s got a boyfriend he wants to treat right — even if John-Henry Somerset occasionally lets the dishes sit in the sink a little too long. They even have an extra reason to celebrate this year: Somers has received a special commendation for his police work.

Teancum Leon is pretty sure that if he plays his cards right, he can have it all: his childhood friend and former lover, Ammon Young; his best friend (although Tean is loath to admit it), Jem Berger; and his family. A boyfriend might even be in his future, although he’s having a heck of a time getting a second date with the guys he meets on Prowler.

When Emery Hazard gets drawn into a brawl at a monthly school board meeting, he knows he’s in trouble; his husband, John-Henry Somerset, is chief of police, and they’re already under enough scrutiny as they try to finalize their foster son’s permanency plan. A woman shows up at his office the next day, and she wants to hire him to protect her mother. Loretta Ames is a famous author, and a string of recent attempts on her life suggests that someone is determined to get rid of her. Hazard takes the job, assuming that it will be two days. Loretta's murder changes everything.

When word comes that two key witnesses in an investigation are dead, North and Shaw are surprised—and pleased—to learn that their friend, John-Henry Somerset, is interested in hiring them as freelance contractors for the Wahredua police department. The department is stretched thin, and the investigation into the Cottonmouth Club (and the criminal organization operating there) is collapsing. Not to mention—in North and Shaw’s opinion, anyway—they’re the best detectives around.